Michel Foucault, (1926-1984), French Essayist, Philosopher Quotes

The judges of normality are present everywhere. We are in the society of the teacher-judge, the doctor-judge, the educator-judge, the "social worker" -judge.

The lyricism of marginality may find inspiration in the image of the "outlaw," the great social nomad, who prowls on the confines of a docile, frightened order.

It is quite difficult to lay down barriers [particularly since] it could be that the child, with his own sexuality, may have desired the adult.

Wars are no longer waged in the name of a sovereign who must be defended; they are waged on behalf of the existence of everyone; entire populations are mobilized for the purpose of wholesale slaughter in the name of life necessity: massacres have become vital.

One makes war to win, not because it's just.

There is no binary division to be made between what one says and what one does not say; we must try to determine the different ways of not saying things.

The judges of normality are present everywhere. We are in the society of the teacher-judge, the doctor-judge, the educator-judge, the social worker judge.

What strikes me is the fact that in our society, art has become something which is only related to objects, and not to individuals, or to life.

Psychoanalysis can unravel some of the forms of madness; it remains a stranger to the sovereign enterprise of unreason. It can neither limit nor transcribe, nor most certainly explain, what is essential in this enterprise.

In its function, the power to punish is not essentially different from that of curing or educating.